With the rise and decline of insurance reimbursements, it is a great time to look at what options are available for your practice to incorporate ancillary services or product dispensing.

Physicians are often a bit hesitant when both of these ideas come up, as they feel it may take away some of the professionalism of their medical practice. When, in fact, both of these services can enhance the practice and produce increased patient compliance.

When beginning to dispense products, it’s important that you pick products that you believe in and know work. Many products come with a money-back guarantee from the company. It is also important to pick products that fit into your treatment protocols. Patients will appreciate being able to walk to the front counter to purchase what the doctor ordered and not have to go all over town looking for it.

Staff involvement is a must when it comes to dispensing products. Staff members need to be educated about the products, what they are for, and how they are used so they can adequately explain them to the patients.

There is nothing better than when a staff person is asked about a product by a patient and the staff member knows from experience with the product how it works, feels, and how it helped them. Staff engagement not only benefits the patients, but the practice also benefits by the added value of the staff member.

Many practices also offer ancillary services such as vascular testing, ultrasound, physical therapy and diabetic shoes. All of these services benefit patients by allowing them to get the services they need all under one roof and not having to make additional appointments.

These services provide better patient care as the information the physician needs for the patient's treatment plan can be obtained right away.

It takes a doing a little homework to figure out what services or products will work best in your office. One of the best ways to figure this out is to start looking at what services and products you are already having your patients get from outside sources and find out if you can offer these same products and services while your patients are in your practice.

Not only will your patients appreciate the one-stop service you provide them, your practice revenue will increase by offering them.